


Tattoos

by Fernon



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Funny, Humor, M/M, Prompt Fic, Weird Fluff, another writing prompt, i thought it was cute, sorry it's awkward, this one is weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 06:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16697377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fernon/pseuds/Fernon
Summary: Jihoon is Seungcheol's hot neighbor, who is super into gardening. Seungcheol has the biggest crush on him.-or-Seungcheol gets drunk and asks his tattoo artist neighbor to tattoo 'Jihoon' on his ass.





	Tattoos

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was a random writing prompt I found, and I wanted to get back into writing since I've been super busy lately. This one is weird, and kind of stupid? But I tried to make it more humor-based, and hopefully it's sort of cute? Sorry for all the second hand embarrassment you'll get from Seungcheol. Please enjoy!

Prompt: “You can’t get tattooed drunk, so come back tomorrow morning and if you still want my name tattooed on your ass, we’ll talk”

 

            Seungcheol is a book worm. He sits on the window seat of his little studio apartment after working for the day and walking Rin, his nutcase of a dog, and reads whatever he has in his possession. Whether it was the book he had gotten from the library, or whatever new read he had purchased from some faraway bookshop on the previous weekend’s travels, reading is his favorite pastime.

            That was until one day he heard a car horn blaring in the street outside, and glanced out, only to notice a short man on the fire escape across the street from him, watering a various garden of tiny plants in pots and planters, shirtless. He was a petite man, to say the lease, and his hair was bleached almost white and sticking up in short little spikes. The gray sweatpants he wore hung low on his hips, and he looked as though he had just woken up.

            Not to mention the smattering of tattoos peppered across his skin. Seungcheol was positively _drooling_ over this man. He was only startled out of his drool fest by another honk of a car horn, and then reading became his _second_ favorite pastime.

            He had spent countless evenings daydreaming over the tattooed man. He had learned a bit about Tattoo Man (as Seungcheol had dubbed him)- he has at least two cats, an orange one, and a gray and white one, that he had noticed in the windows on occasion. He had run into Tattoo Man at the grocery store a couple times and literally run in the opposite direction. And it appeared that Tattoo Man was serious about his little fire escape garden- he watered those plants every _damn_ day, looking so peaceful and soft while he did it, but also looking so _damn hot_.

            Seungcheol just watched from a distance, completely infatuated. Was it creepy? Maybe just a little. It’s not his fault that his window seat was directly across from Tattoo Man’s fire escape. And it wasn’t Seungcheol’s fault that he _always_ watered his plants without a shirt.

            Today was no different. He had just finished making dinner and setting the table, for his friends who were visiting for the night, and they planned to go out for drinks afterwards. For now, he settles into his reading nook and reads while he waits for his friends. Until he notices Tattoo Man stepping out onto his fire escape from the window, shirtless as always, hair slicked back now, looking a bit less wild. Like he was getting ready to go somewhere. That’s when Seungcheol notices he’s got on tight leather skinny jeans, and a pair of maroon Doc Marten’s on his feet. Normally it’s just a pair of ripped jeans and Converse- the latter of which tended to be in a varying degree of colors.

Seungcheol isn’t snapped out of his pondering Tattoo Man’s wardrobe changes until there’s a knock on the door, and he knows it’s Joshua and Jeonghan. Rin begins to bark incessantly, and jump at the door excitedly. Seungcheol hushes him and spares one more glance back at Tattoo Man, who had just happened to look up from his plants at that moment. And he looked _directly_ at Seungcheol.

The fucking kitchen window was open.  _Of course,_ Tattoo Man heard Seungcheol’s idiot of a dog barking, and looked over. Seungcheol promptly slams his book shut- thank god he had slipped the bookmark in there- and rolled off his window seat, scurrying to answer the door.

            “Rin! Stop, bud. It’s just Jeonghan and Joshua! Hush!” Seungcheol shoos him away from the door ineffectively, and opens the door, having to grab ahold of Rin’s collar before he could escape. “Hello! Come in!” Seungcheol manages to push Rin back from the door so his friends could come in.

            They both laugh at the dog’s antics, and step into the room, toeing their shoes off, and sliding them off to the side. Seungcheol, still holding Rin back, shuts the door behind them, and lets go of Rin. “Dinner is all set up! Have a seat and help yourselves.”

            They sit and eat dinner and chat happily, occasionally teasing Seungcheol about his crush on the Tattoo Man (because of course, they had been told about Tattoo Man on several occasions, and Joshua had even seen him once, while he was at Seungcheol’s house) which only made Seungcheol blush furiously and tell them to shut up.

            After dinner, Seungcheol forces Joshua and Jeonghan to do the dishes, and is met with much complaining, but they do it. Seungcheol takes this time to get dressed to go out- a simple gray t-shirt with a black collar, and his favorite jeans, with a red sweater over top of it. He slips into some nice shoes, and makes sure his hair isn’t wild, and then heads out.

            “You guys ready to go?” Seungcheol smiles and his friends both comply, and then they’re off for the night.

            They head to their usual bar, and take their usual spots at the bar, everyone ordering a lighter drink. Eventually Joshua is tipsy enough to be pulling Jeonghan off to dance, and Seungcheol is just starting to nurse his second drink along, nodding his head along with the music.

            “Hey! Mind if I sit here?” Seungcheol jumps at the voice and turns to see a tall man, with a bright smile, and soft brown eyes. Seungcheol smiles and nods, and the tall man sits on the stool across from him.  “My name is Mingyu.”

            “Seungcheol. Nice to meet you.” Seungcheol smiles at the handsome man, and the two of them begin to talk. Seungcheol orders himself a third drink, just another beer, and orders Mingyu whatever he’d like.

            “Oh, Seungcheol! You don’t have to do that!” Mingyu would try and insist to him.

            “No, it’s okay. I don’t mind!” Seungcheol just smiled his friendly smile, and that was enough to shut Mingyu up about the drink.

            “Fine, then I owe you a dance.” Mingyu says halfway through his drink. So, Seungcheol agrees, and they finish their drinks and head for the dancefloor. Seungcheol lets Mingyu dance with him, the two of them giggling slightly drunkenly, and getting a bit flirty. Suddenly, Mingyu slips off, leaving a tipsy Seungcheol alone.

            So Seungcheol keeps dancing. He dances with anyone, not really caring who, just having a good time. He bumps into people, and laughs with others, and everything turns into a blur. He finds Joshua at some point, who tells him that Jeonghan is in the bathroom, and then Seungcheol is swept away into the crowd again, just dancing like there’s no tomorrow.

            He can feel himself starting to grow tired, after who knows how long of dancing, but he keeps going. Until he feels someone grab onto his waist and take a hand of his and sway with him, giggling. It’s a soft sound, and the person holding onto him is short, and rather tiny. Seungcheol finds himself twisting to see who’s behind him, only to see the slicked back hair of a tiny man, and a pair of leather skinnies, and maroon Doc Marten’s.

            It’s Tattoo Man.

            Sure, he has a maroon button down on, and is no longer shirtless, but it’s him alright.

            Seungcheol damn near has a heart attack.

            His heart is beating a mile a minute and his face flushes, and Tattoo Man takes his hand and twirls away from him, giggling even harder, and then twirls right back into Seungcheol. Seungcheol had no fucking clue what he was doing, or rather what his limbs were doing, but it was like his limbs weren’t his own, and they were accepting the gorgeous man before him and dancing with him, but his mind wasn’t there. His mind was in panic mode, because _holy fucking shit, it’s Tattoo Man!_

            “You’re cute!” Seungcheol hears. Or he thinks he hears. Seungcheol thinks he’s going to faint.

            “W-what?” Seungcheol’s voice cracks, making him cringe. Seungcheol’s mouth feels like cotton and his hands are sweaty, and his voice doesn’t even come across loud enough to be heard over the music.

            “I said you’re cute! What’s your name?” Tattoo Man yells over the music.

            “S-Seungcheol!” Seungcheol manages to say back.

            “Nice! I’m Jihoon!” Tattoo Man- or rather Jihoon- says back, a huge smile on his face. Seungcheol’s heart races.

            “Nice to meet you…!” His voice cracks yet again and Seungcheol wants to melt through the floorboards.

            “I like your sweater!”

            “Thanks….?”

            “Let’s dance more!” is all Jihoon says, before putting himself flush with Seungcheol and dancing, giggling the whole time. His cheeks are a rosy pink color, and his smile is the cutest thing Seungcheol has ever seen. And they stay like that, giggling drunkenly, dancing together, for ages.

            Until Seungcheol is being tapped on the shoulder. He glances over to see Joshua holding up a very pale Jeonghan, who is holding his stomach and leaning heavily on Joshua. “Seungcheol, we need to leave! Jeonghan threw up and he just wants to sleep.” As if on cue, Jeonghan moans loudly and covers his mouth, before turning tail for the bathrooms. Joshua shouts something about meeting him at the entrance and then hurries after his boyfriend.

            Seungcheol nods, and Jihoon looks at him. “Who’s this?”

            “My friends. One of them got sick. I gotta get going…” Seungcheol says, feeling bad.

            “Oh! I hope he feels better. Maybe I’ll see you around, Seungcheol!” Jihoon gives him a flirtatious wink and kisses his cheek, and disappears in the crowd. Seungcheol is left stunned.

  * \- -     -     -     -     -     -     -



It’s been three weeks since Seungcheol has been at that bar, dancing with Jihoon, and he can’t get his mind off the man. Although based on how Seungcheol saw Jihoon stumbling into his apartment building that night, he was pretty drunk. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t come out until almost three the next afternoon, squinting in the bright sunlight, looking pale and with extra bad bed head. He was definitely hungover.

Seungcheol puts his now finished book down with a sigh. It’s almost three in the afternoon now, on a Saturday, and Seungcheol is feeling oddly restless. He supposes a trip to the library wouldn’t hurt. It’ll get him out of the house, and let him get a new book.

He slips on some sneakers, and a new sweater, since it’s cooling down outside, and makes his way down the boring hall of his apartment building to the elevator. Soon his feet carry him outside, and down the familiar route to the library, about four blocks away. It’s a quiet place, which is a wonderful contrast to the rest of the city around it.

Seungcheol spends about an hour between the comforting shelves of books, and he feels at peace, like he’s surrounded by old friends. He eventually settles on a book, feeling in the need for romance, so it’s some cheesy teen-romance-esque book written for a soccer mom of two, in her mid-forties. But Seungcheol doesn’t care. He checks the books out, and starts his journey home. About two blocks from home, he hears a tiny meow, and glances down to see a young brown and white tabby cat.

“Oh! Hello there!” Seungcheol says with soft surprise. The cat bounces over and begins rubbing it’s face all over Seungcheol’s legs. Seungcheol offers his hand for the cat to sniff, but the cat just headbutts his hand, and chirps, clearly wanting attention. He coos, and gently picks the cat up, to which the cat just purrs and snuggles into his chest.

“Lets get you off the street, yeah kitty?” Seungcheol tucks his book more securely under his arm and begins carrying his cat back to his apartment. He manages to sneak the cat through the lobby of his building (not that pets weren’t allowed, but the building manager must be notified in advance and approve any new furry friends one wants to bring into the building). Sneaking the cat in involved tucking the thing under his sweater by his stomach, and trying to hold it up, whilst also effectively covering his now lumpy, squirming midsection with his book.

The cat was not happy about being in a shirt, and thus it meowed loudly in protest. Seungcheol just had to cough louder than the cat, and by the time he got to his apartment, he sounded like he should perhaps get his cough checked out. He barely got in the apartment before the cat managed to wiggle it’s way free of the sweater and jump down, only to be immediately met by a bouncing, barking Rin.

The cat hissed at the wild dog, and quickly finds a place to hide. Only for Rin to scramble after the cat. “Rin, no!” Seungcheol tries, but the dog is already scrabbling on the tile of the kitchen to chase the cat all over the place. Seungcheol then scrambles after Rin, trying to grab ahold of his collar, whilst shouting for the dog to stop, and sit. The poor cat manages to get a perch up on the highest shelf of Seungcheol’s almost full bookshelf, and cower there, mewing in distress. Rin stands on his hind legs at the bottom of the bookcase, yipping at the cat excitedly.

“Rin! Leave the cat alone!” Seungcheol grabs ahold of his collar, and tugs him away from the bookcase, with a great struggle, before he gets Rin into the bathroom, and squarely shut away. Rin barks at the door for a few more minutes, before giving up. Seungcheol flops on the couch with a sigh. The grumble of his stomach reminds him that it’s almost dinner time, so he goes and begins to cook his meal for the evening.

  * \- -     -     -     -     -     -     -



It’s almost midnight, and Seungcheol has opted for a Disney marathon, instead of starting his new book tonight. He decided he’d start the search for the cat’s owner the next morning, and for now has nicknamed her Indie. The cat has since come down from it’s perch and explored the house (and taunted Rin for almost a whole hour, who was still locked in the bathroom), and is snuggled up in Seungcheol’s lap, purring away. He’s almost finished _Brave_ , when there’s a frantic knocking on the door. The cat startles, and Rin begins barking loudly from the bathroom. Seungcheol sets the cat aside, and makes his way to the door of his apartment, smoothing out his wrinkled pajama shirt and tugging his sweatpants up more.

Seungcheol opens it only to see Jihoon.

“O-oh! Hello! Jihoon!”

The man before him furrows his brows. “Excuse me? Have we met?” He looks confused. Seungcheol was right, he was definitely drunk that night at the bar.

“Oh, we met at the bar a couple of weeks ago… We danced a little bit. I’m Seungcheol…” Seungcheol says, his face heating up.

“That was you? Wow. My friends have been teasing me for dancing with a handsome stranger. Guess they weren’t wrong. Everything from that night is… a bit fuzzy, to say the least.” Jihoon chuckles, clearly looking a little sheepish.

Seungcheol flushes. “So, uhm- how did you- why are you-“

“Oh! Right… Uh… My cat got out this morning…” Jihoon pulls up a photo of a brown and white tabby cat. “Have you seen her?”

“You mean Indie? I picked her up a couple of blocks away from here when I was on my way home from the library today!” Seungcheol hurries over the bookshelf, where Indie had run back to the second Rin began barking. He lifts the cat off her perch, making her mew in protest, and brings her to the door.

“Ruby!” Jihoon coos and takes the cat from him. “Thank you so much for finding her!” Jihoon beams.

“No problem..! I was going to walk around tomorrow to search for her owner. I just figured it was a little late…” Seungcheol scratches his neck.

“Right! Sorry it’s so late… I just got out of work…” Jihoon looks sheepish.

“Where do you work?” Seungcheol is a tad bit curious as to where the man of his dreams is employed, that has him out this late.

“I’m a tattoo artist at a shop a couple blocks over.” Jihoon’s tone is confident, and he looks proud of his career. Seungcheol smiles.

“That’s so cool!”

“Thanks. Well, I’ll let you get to sleep, it’s late. It was nice… meeting you? Sort of?”

“Yeah! Well, meeting you while we’re both sober. Maybe I’ll see you around. Bye, Jihoon.”

“Bye…”

Seungcheol watches him go to the end of the corridor before he closes the door, and does a tiny little dance of glee. _Fuck_ , Seungcheol was whipped for this man. Rin barks from the bathroom, bringing Seungcheol down, and he quickly releases Rin from his prison, and leashes him to take him outside for the last time tonight.

  * \- -     -     -     -     -     -     -



Seungcheol only sees Jihoon a few times in passing on the street, and they simply exchange polite hellos, and continue on their way. The weather is now much too cold for Jihoon’s plants to be out on his fire escape, so Seungcheol never sees him out on the fire escape anymore.

And Seungcheol misses that, as creepy and weird as that sounds. But Seungcheol has spent so much time pining after this man (a ridiculous amount, really) and for him to just be gone suddenly has left Seungcheol feeling a bit empty. So, on a random Friday night, Joshua stops in, tells Seungcheol to bundle up, and drags him to a bar.

It's not the same bar that he had danced with Jihoon at, all those months ago, and it’s only 8 pm, so it’s fairly tame right now, and a tipsy Joshua is insisting that Seungcheol get drunk and flirt with the bartender. Seungcheol drinks, sure, and has a spectacular time. But flirt with the bartender? He was cute, but… He wasn’t Jihoon. Jihoon is much shorter than this man, who introduced himself as Minghao, when Joshua had asked for Seungcheol. Joshua is giggling like a mad man, and is trying to get Seungcheol to speak to him.

Seungcheol smiles politely and chats with the bartender, but refuses to flirt with him, and he definitely isn’t interested in this man. A few guys come over and offer to buy Seungcheol drinks, or introduce themselves to him, or ask him to dance. Seungcheol declines all offers. They’re not a cute as Jihoon, or they don’t have the same haircut as Jihoon, or they’re not tattooed like Jihoon.

Suddenly, after two beers and a fruity mixed drink of some sort, an imaginary lightbulb appears over Seungcheol’s head.

“I’ve got a great idea!” Seungcheol announces, holding up his fourth shot of vodka. “Lets get tattoos!” Joshua agrees, giggling, and pulls his phone out to call Jeonghan (for the fifth time that night. Drunken Josh is sappy.)

“Hannie! Pleeeeease come pick me and Seungcheol up! We’re going to get tattoos!” Joshua giggles.

Seungcheol can hear Jeonghan protesting loudly on the other end over the music and chatter of the bar. Something along the lines of _‘you drunken idiot, don’t you dare go and get at tattoo’_ and _‘Hong Jisoo, you’re too drunk for your own good’_ and _‘you’re going to regret this in the morning, don’t you dare do it!’_

Joshua simply pouts. “Hannie, you’re no fun! If you won’t pick us up then we’ll _walk_ to a tattoo shop. Meanie.” And with that, Joshua hangs up. “Come on, Cheol. Let’s go get inked!”

Seungcheol laughs happily, slides a 50 to the bartender for his drinks, and stumbles out of the bar with Joshua. They laugh and wander the sidewalk, Joshua’s arm slung around Seungcheol’s shoulders, and talk about everything and anything.

“Seungcheol, it’s cold! Where are we going?” Joshua giggles, after Seungcheol said something about laying on the sidewalk and making a snow angel in the light dust on the ground.

“To get a tattoo! See? There’s one over there!” Seungcheol says, standing up from where he had sat in the snow.

“Let’s go!” Josh grabs his arm and pulls him across the street, giggling about there being snow on Seungcheol’s butt. They burst into the tattoo shop, in a fit of giggles, and all three guys that work there look up. And that’s when Seungcheol sees him.

Jihoon.

“Heyyy! Jihoon! Long time no see!” Seungcheol greets him like a friend he hasn’t seen since high school, giving him a grin that stretches ear to ear and then he pulls out the finger guns.

_Fucking finger guns._

“We want tattoos!” Joshua chimes in.

“Sir, how much have you had to drink?” One of the tattoo artists makes his way to Joshua and guides him to one of the chairs in the waiting area, before instructing someone else to get a glass of water.

Jihoon makes his way over to Seungcheol, face bright red, looking sheepish. “Listen, Seungcheol, was it? I don’t know why you’re here-”

“I want your name! I want it tattooed on my ass!” Seungcheol turns and points to the left side of his ass, and then furrows his brows. “Why are my pants all wet?”

Jihoon lets out an exasperated sigh. “You can’t get tattooed drunk, so come back tomorrow morning and if you still want my name tattooed on your ass, we’ll talk.”

“No! I want it nowwww! I want your handsome face, too! With that cute face you’re making- oh, you look mad- are you mad?” Seungcheol pouts, and begins rambling on about everything- apologizing for upsetting him, pleading him not to be upset with him because, oh, Seungcheol couldn’t bear to upset him, and then begins rambling about stuff, which Seungcheol doesn’t even know he’s saying.

Suddenly, Jeonghan appears, bursting through the door of the tattoo parlor, cellphone in hand. He shoves his phone in his pocket and groans.

Seungcheol doesn’t remember much of what happens after that, just Jihoon handing him off to Jeonghan, he vaguely remembers throwing up at some point, (hopefully not in Jeonghan’s car), and Joshua falling asleep on his couch.

He wakes up the next morning with an awful headache and fuzzy recollection of everything that had happened. He staggers to his bathroom, looking for some water and something to take care of his headache, and stares at himself in the mirror. His hair is sticking up a million different ways, he’s still in his jeans, which are now dry, and his button down has the top four buttons undone, and a sleeve unrolled. Seungcheol groans and covers his face when he realizes what he had said to Jihoon.

“Finger guns, Choi? Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you?!” He scolds his reflection, and then it hits him. “An ass tattoo? _Of Jihoon’s name?!_  I’m screwed!” Seungcheol whines and just sits on the cold tile floor of his bathroom, regretting letting Joshua take him out for drinks and ‘a good time.’

Seungcheol blew any chance he could have possibly had with Jihoon, if there even was a chance to begin with. Seungcheol could hardly _speak_ to the man, and he had only _spoken_ to him twice, ever. Seungcheol was a goner.

After he sits in the bathroom for another twenty minutes, wondering if it’s even worth it to just go back to bed, he hears a knock at his door, and Rin barking incessantly. Seungcheol groans, his head feeling worse. “Stop it, Rin!” Seungcheol staggers from the bathroom, notices a note from Jeonghan, saying he managed to get Joshua up and back home last night, and then staggers to the door, hushing his dog.

Seungcheol throws open the door to see Jihoon with… Seungcheol’s jacket? When did he leave his jacket there?

“Oh… Jihoon… Uh… Sorry about last night… I uh… I was uh… Pretty drunk…”

“I could tell. You left your jacket on the chair.” Jihoon says, a little bit abruptly.

“When did I ever-”

“You waltzed in, struggled to get your jacket off, and then threw it into a chair. I figured you’d need this, since, well, it’s cold, and your wallet is in the pocket. And, no, even sober, I wouldn’t let you get my name, or my face, for that matter, tattooed onto your ass.”

Seungcheol winces. That _hurt._ “Look, Jihoon, I’m really sorry-”

“Even if you have a nice butt. And even if, I think you’re cute. Face tattoos are a horrible decision, and getting my name tattooed on your ass is a terrible way to profess your love for me.”

Seungcheol can only blink. “What?”

“You don’t remember admitting that you used to watch me on my fire escape, tending to my plants every day? Or telling me that you really wanted to kiss me? Or confessing that you had a huge crush on me?” Jihoon raises an eyebrow.

Then it hits Seungcheol. He fucking _told_ Jihoon _everything._ “Shit, Jihoon-”

“It’s just a little bit creepy, Seungcheol. But I like you. I barely know you, and I like you. You were kind enough to rescue my cat from the streets. You’re attractive as hell, even when you’re a hungover mess. You’re caring, you take your dog for walks every day, and deal with his wild antics, and you still love him. And you’re shy, and you sit in that damn window every day and read.

“You also really need to invest in some blinds, Seungcheol. I can see you all the time. I noticed when I was looking out to see what my cat was meowing angrily at- it was a stray cat on the fire escape below mine- and I saw a handsome young man with his nose in a book, in the apartment right across from mine, with little fairy lights twinkling above his head, and a blanket on his lap. That was you. I mean, I didn’t wait for you every day to sit and read, like you waited for me to water the plants, but I noticed you a few times after that.” Jihoon sighs. “This is the most bizarre way I think I’ve ever had someone have a crush on me, and the most bizarre way someone has ever confessed to liking me, but I like weird.”

Seungcheol is stunned into silence. Jihoon looks at him expectantly.

“Well?”

“I guess I should invest in some blinds… And listen, it’s normal to have admire the hot, tattooed, shirtless neighbor across the street. Maybe I fulfilled my crush in a… weird way, but I wasn’t brave enough to act upon it or anything. Nor did I ever think I’d speak to you.” Seungcheol tries at humor, and tries to cover up his weird, awkward, social habits, and Jihoon smiles.

“So, maybe if you asked for my number, and offered to take me on a date, I’d be willing to forgive you, for being such a weirdo.”

Seungcheol grins wider. “Jihoon, can I take you out to dinner some time? Maybe when I’m less hung over? And forgive me, for being such a weirdo?” Seungcheol blushes sheepishly, and Jihoon laughs.

“I’d love to go out for dinner. Here’s my number and we’ll set something up. And I suppose you’re forgiven.” Jihoon’s smiling softly, and Seungcheol can’t help but smile back.


End file.
